The recent demise of the cold war and decline in super-power tensions has been accompanied by an increase in concern about the viability of weapons of mass destruction such as chemical and biological (CB) weapons. CB weapons include chemical agents such as phosgene, nerve agents such as Sarin, and biological agents such as anthrax or smallpox. CB weapons may be delivered to occupants within a building by releasing the agents either external to the building or within the building.
In response to such a release of harmful agents, people may be moved into a building, out of a building, or from one part of a building to another, depending on the location of the release and the relative safety of various areas of the building or buildings. In response to such an agent release, it may also be desirable to attempt to wash the harmful agent from people to benefit the contaminated personnel and to lessen the spread of the agent carried by the contaminated personnel. While such decontamination may be desirable, it may not be desirable to generate concern by having an explicit and distinct CB decontamination station placed in a building hallway.
The risk of CB weapons being used may escalate rapidly over a short time period.
Given long-range awareness and time for preparation, particular buildings such as key military sites, can be equipped or designed in advance to deal with this possibility. However, the awareness of the imminent likely use of CB weapons against a building may give only a short time period for preparation. Also, the risk against a particular building may increase in a short time period.
What would be desirable is a system for decontaminating people that is unobtrusive and does not call attention to itself as a decontamination station for CB warfare. What would be desirable is a system for CB decontamination that could be added relatively quickly to existing building utilities while attracting little attention and incurring little expense.